"Thank you for your candor, my friend. I will see what I can do to salvage this and save my brother from himself."
Christian got into the limo and instructed the driver to head for Lucian's apartment. He raked his hands through his hair, furious with Lucian for endangering their way of life, their family, and their very existence.
This witch helping Lucian puzzled him because he couldn't understand what she would have to gain by aligning with a vampire. Even if Lucian were successful in finding Le Sang Noir, her only aim would be to kill him just as his would be to kill her once Lucian had exhausted her aid. Christian's only hope was that their continued alliance along with the magical wards meant that Lucian hadn't discovered Le Sang Noir.
But just as he finished that thought, he realized he was wrong about the wards. Enhard had said they'd become stronger a day ago ... just in time for Christian's arrival in Paris. They'd been strengthened for him.
Victoria!
Christian's first call was to the airport. His pilot would have his plane ready to leave in two hours. The second was to Victoria, voicemail again! Frustrated, he snapped the phone shut. Before the limousine even came to a complete stop, he had jumped out and slammed into Lucian's apartment, palpable rage streaming from every part of his body.
"Lucian!" he roared as he tore through the apartment like a whirlwind with enraged inhuman speed, ignoring the shocked stares of Lucian's guests.
Yes, dear brother. Lucian's mental voice dripped with sarcasm. Christian found him in the master bedroom on the fourth level of the townhouse. He was standing in front of the bed holding a naked girl close, his lips rimmed in red and his eyes feral. The bemused girl swooned as Lucian tossed her unceremoniously onto the bed, licking the lips that had pulled back in a sneer upon seeing Christian.
Snack? he asked. Christian snarled so ferociously that the girl's eyes snapped open from her semi-trance, and she shrank back among the sheets, staring at them like the monsters they were.
"Out!" Christian barked at the girl as she stared at him with terrified eyes. It would be up to her to make it out of the house alive, which probably wouldn't happen. He gritted his teeth. "Wait outside," he said, his eyes fierce and compelling, and she obeyed. Christian turned his attention back to Lucian who stared at him, a mix of boredom and arrogant defiance playing across his features.
"The Council will issue an execution edict for you unless you surrender the witch helping you to uncover the prophecy." At Lucian's stunned look, Christian smiled coldly. "Did you think they wouldn't find out? Magic use is carefully monitored. They know you are aligned with a witch. You are violating the terms of the truce, and they want you to stop. Surrender her and you live." Christian's voice brooked no disagreement. Lucian's eyes became manic as he stared at Christian.
"She is the key," he said. "I will not. I am so close that the Council's empty threats will mean nothing! They will soon be begging for me to spare them!" Lucian's eyes were demented, and Christian felt genuine alarm for his brother's state of mind.
"Lucian, Le Sang Noir is a legend. It won't make you invincible! Even if it could, your witch would kill you the minute she found it, don't you know that?"
Lucian's uncontrolled, hollow laughter echoed in the room.
"Kill me?" he said. "She won't."
"Why is she helping you?" Christian tried a different tack. Still, all he received in response was more of the same hollow, mocking laughter.
"Trust me, brother, and you can spare me the misplaced show of brotherly concern, there is no way she would kill me. Come on, ask me why?"
"Okay, why?"
"Let's just say, she knows who will lead the new world. In return for her services, she will have whatever she desires," he said, laughing more at Christian's incredulous expression. "You would be surprised at how vicious she is, she's the one who killed the other witches, not me. I think she's a bit mad. Must have been why she was exiled." He smiled cruelly at Christian's shock. "My gain, though. Her services include a unique charm that can identify Le Sang Noir. Like I said, the Council will be on their knees in a matter of days," he said. "I suppose when Le Sang Noir is mine, I can dispose of her if I need to but I have a feeling that she will be quite useful to me in unearthing the weaknesses of the witch clans."
"Are you insane, Lucian? She is an exile for a reason!" Christian said. It was common knowledge that an exiled witch or wizard meant only one thing—mental illness. Normally they were stripped of the magical powers because they were so volatile, but it sounded like this particular witch had found a way to retain some of her magical abilities. That made her, and Lucian, very dangerous.
"So?"
"Where is she?" Christian said, suddenly realizing that on his way in, he had not noticed either the mysterious witch or Lena. Nor did he like his brother's coldly evil smile.
"Hunting," Lucian taunted with a meaningful smirk, and the air whooshed out of Christian's body.